Constitutional conventions: best practice

The contrasting treatment of those accused of verbal insults of the monarch and those responsible for violent repression casts a sorry verdict on the process of justice in Thailand, says Tyrell Haberkorn in Bangkok.

American liberal arts colleges are embracing collaborations with authoritarian regimes worldwide, with implications for US foreign policy. Following up his op-ed in the New York Times on Sunday, Jim Sleeper reports on the issue in greater depth in this openDemocracy essay.

A new study of the inner workings of North Korea's regime is an important account of its dark political genius. But big states in the international system share the blame for its success, says Kerry Brown.

With a victory of the ruling Barisan Nasional, it was tempting to write
off the results of this Sunday's election as another missed opportunity to
reform Malaysia's chronic status quo. Yet,
the patterns of change are already there: one only needs to recognize them.

Two years after the tsunami that killed
thousands and triggered a nuclear meltdown, it is intriguing to observe how the
'triple disasters' might also have reinvigorated civic participation and
activism in an otherwise politically apathetic society. What does this mean for the future of Japanese democracy?

The recurring three-part drama, Unsuccessful Diplomacy-North Korean Belligerence-United Nations Sanctions, is airing on our screens once again. How do we we break the cycle - and finally get North Korea to change its behaviour?

When the rice harvest season finishes in a few weeks, fields in India will turn black as farmers burn thousands of
acres. This practice shows one of the
failures of the Green Revolution, with devastating regional and global consequences. A food-security-obsessed India cannot ignore these
issues for much longer.

As
a somewhat reluctant member of the American orbit in the Asia-Pacific region,
Australia carefully watches the election – amused but slightly worried by
its "cranks and crazies" (as the Australian treasurer recently called
the Tea Party).

A long-awaited review on the conduct of United Nations agencies during the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka is still unpublished, and its terms of reference are shrouded in secrecy. There are further doubts over its authorship and process. All this raises questions over how seriously Ban Ki-moon and his colleagues take the issue, says a Sri Lankan observer who writes under the pen-name Vidura.

The last war between Asia's giants erupted in October 1962. Fifty years on the respective works of a Chinese and an Indian intellectual define the shape of their 21st-century contest, says William A Callahan.

In order to understand how the ‘Rohingya crisis’ has come to pass we
need to consider the narrative
built by three groupings of international actors - the Burmese government, host
countries for Rohingya who have fled and the international community at large.

Pyongyang looks and feels different under Kim Jong Un's leadership, but how much do new buildings, markets and facades reveal about the direction of policy? Charles K Armstrong, who recently visited North Korea, reflects.

Nepal is still awaiting a new constitution to complete its transition from a decade of conflict to democracy. So far, political leaders' control of the drafting process has handicapped progress. But the four-year debate has also created a foundation on which to build, says Leena Rikkila Tamang.

The imminent transition of power in Beijing will see a new ruling group arrive in power. But does its background and formation prepare it for the scale of China's political and economic challenge, asks Li Datong.

China's plan to transform the heart of Uyghur culture, learning and urban settlement - Kashgar old city - is well underway. The fact that the Uyghurs themselves have no voice in this process gives the experience a wider significance, says Henryk Szadziewski.

Commentators on North Korea have predicted the immanent downfall
of its dictatorial regieme since its inception, but even after the second transition of power to another member of the Kim family it is yet to show any signs of
wavering. Perhaps it is time for the international community to consider a
more long-term, inclusive foreign policy toward this isolated and secretive regime

The by-election victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in Burma (Myanmar) raises the question of whether the country is at last on an irreversible path towards democracy. A detailed analysis of the context suggests seven reasons for caution, says Joakim Kreutz.

The worst disaster in Japan since the second world war hit the country's north-east coastal region on 11 March 2011. The combination of tsunami and nuclear crisis presented the media with great practical problems and ethical concerns. Wataru Sawamura, an experienced journalist with the leading newspaper the Asahi Shimbun, reflects on how he and his colleagues sought to fulfil their professional responsibilities as the tragedy unfolded.

Beijing is concerned by Washington's more assertive regional policy in Asia. But here as elsewhere the Chinese leadership's inability to talk to the rest of the world in a natural way blunts its capacity to respond, says Kerry Brown.

Taiwan's presidential election saw the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou win another four-year term in office over his opponent Tsai Ing-wen. But the interpretation of this outcome by Washington and Beijing misses an important dimension of Taiwan's political reality. Their flawed understanding could have damaging consequences over the next four years, say LC Russell Hsiao & Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao.

After Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has now turned its belligerent attention towards Pakistan. But opening up a new battlefront, this time in Pakistan, in the run-up to the presidential elections, will prove another quagmire for the Obama administration.

The return to democracy in Nepal after the decade-long civil war has been bumpy. The question of amnesty for crimes committed during the war now faces the new Maoist-led government with a key choice, says Meenakshi Ganguly.

A pattern of violence against the Ahmadiyah religious community, in which the perpetrators enjoy near-impunity and official indulgence, is disfiguring Indonesia. It also presents a wider challenge to the country’s vital search for a model of religious tolerance in public life, says Charles Reading.

World Forum for Democracy 2017

This year, the theme is ‘populism’. Is the problem fake news or fake democracy? What media, what political parties, what politicians do we need to re-connect with citizens and make informed choices in 21st century democracy?

Civil Society Futures is a national conversation about how English civil society can flourish in a fast changing world.Come and add your voice»

Full coverage of the non-hierarchical conference held in Barcelona on 18-22 June 2017.